Create local ISO library in Xen Server

Normally in XenServer the ISO library is configured in a remotely server and shared with NFS or CIFS, but for some reasons sometimes is needed to use a local storage in the same server to use it as ISO repository for the use by the virtual machines. In this post I’ll explain the steps to use a local disk as ISO repository from scratch and check the new storage configuration:

Create new partition and file system

 # fdisk /dev/sdb
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1

Mounting the new partition and configure fstab

 # mkdir /mnt/isos/
# mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/isos/
# vi /etc/fstab
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/isos ext3 defaults 0 2

Creating the new local ISO storage repository

# xe sr-create name-label=ISOS type=iso device-config:location=/mnt/isos/ device-config:legacy_mode=true content-type=iso

Copying a new ISO to the new repository

$ scp debian-6.0.5-i386-CD-1.iso [email protected]:/mnt/isos/

Checking the new local storage is added

 # xe sr-list

uuid ( RO) : e85dc938-ea06-e26d-2acd-ceeaa3778f83
name-label ( RW): ISOS
name-description ( RW):
host ( RO): XenServer-1
type ( RO): iso
content-type ( RO): iso

The new library appears in Xen center:

Checking the ISO image  copied successfully

 # xe vdi-list

uuid ( RO) : d37c744c-7684-4aef-8644-22102346dc5c
name-label ( RW): debian-6.0.5-i386-CD-1.iso
name-description ( RW):
sr-uuid ( RO): e85dc938-ea06-e26d-2acd-ceeaa3778f83
virtual-size ( RO): 678428672
sharable ( RO): false
read-only ( RO): true